The 10.5 Commandments of Salesforce Users [Infographic]

1. Thou shall think through the architecture of the data from the beginning

Before you integrate or migrate your data into Salesforce, define your goals and objects. Understand your data, including your sales and marketing processes, to decide what crucial information you need to be gathering and reporting on. You should also make an effort to get feedback from end users to determine what information they need and want.

2. Thou shall login regularly and fully engage with Salesforce

Track all activities, calls, tasks, and statuses on a daily basis so that you can create a clear picture of your pipeline. Having all the information helps facilitate more accurate reporting and better customer service. But be sure not to get in a rush and become too click-happy. Avoid common mistakes like attaching Contacts to incorrect or irrelevant Opportunities and vice versa.

3. Thou shall honor data entry standards

Establish and follow a corporate-wide set of rules for data entry standards like using required fields, data validation rules, and standardized naming conventions to help in the maintenance of a clean, functional org.

4. Thou shall always test in a Sandbox

Test new features, install apps, and check customizations in a sandbox environment instead of interfering with users who rely on the production org.

5. Thou shall not bear unnecessary access rights

Make sure the right users have access to the right information, which may mean blocking access for certain users as well. Doing so will make the system less overwhelming for end users, more protected, and more specialized. It’s important though to ensure everyone who has access to the records are expertly trained in entering quality data.

6. Thou shall automate everything possible

Save time by automating as much as you can such as workflows, email templates, and drip campaigns. Automation makes things easier and increases the likelihood that users will fully adopt and use your Salesforce org. Incorporate marketing automation systems and email integrations to help as well.

7. Thou shall protect customer’s data with one’s life

Schedule a routine backup of your data to prevent data loss. Chances are you are backing up your data, but have you ever tried to restore from these backups? Once a month try to get access to a critical file and restore to make sure that your files are, in fact, backing up properly.

If it’s not in Salesforce, it doesn’t exist. Whenever there’s data in more than one system, like spreadsheets, information can easily become out of sync, resulting in end users failing to consistently use the same system. Avoid this is by integrating your systems so that updates in one system automatically update the others, creating a single source of “truth” which makes it easier for end users to access information.

9. Thou shall observe new releases

Salesforce releases new features every season. As a Salesforce admin, make sure you inform your end users of relevant updates. End users, make sure you pay attention during training.

10. Thou shall not allow duplicate or erroneous data into the sacred database

Because bad data leads to misleading, incomplete, and confusing information, it lowers trust and weakens user adoption. Make sure you’re careful about entering accurate, updated info that doesn’t already exist. You could also use a service that validates the data you have to make sure it’s accurate and actionable, and one that also augments data by filling in missing pieces.

10.5 Thou shall use a de-duplication app

Although your first line of defense is always preventing bad data, duplicates will still happen. Utilize DupeCatcher to block new duplicates from entering your data, and Cloudingo to clean up existing dupes, imports, and for continual data maintenance. Both are highly rated deduplication apps and are available on the Salesforce AppExchange.

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We come to work every day because we want to solve the biggest problem with Salesforce: everyone is second-guessing their data. That’s why we created the Salesforce data cleansing apps Cloudingo and DupeCatcher. Our highly-rated software and services are used world-wide across all industries to clean and preserve the quality of Salesforce data. Learn more